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Lexington churches, clubs, and civic groups will soon be hearing presentations from the Rockbridge Ukrainian Relief Effort, a new organization educating the public about ongoing humanitarian needs in Ukraine.
Mark Nelson became interested in humanitarian efforts through his involvement with Helping Ukrainian Families, a group that brought three Ukrainian families to Lexington in 2022.
“I got to know one family really well, and listened to their stories of their escape from Ukraine, as well as some of the things that happened to family members or friends since the war started. It got me interested in humanitarian aid,” he said.
“HUF had a dinner here in the church to raise money, and I set up a freewill offering for humanitarian aid. We gave the money to the three mothers of the families that came here, and they directed it to friends and trusted companions in Ukraine, and they did quite an impressive job, documenting how they used the money, and that got me interested in continuing helping those in Ukraine, in continuing the work.”
Nelson believes in a personal approach when it comes to charitable giving.
“I’m the kind of guy that likes a personal approach to charities. It’s not just for me to write a check to somebody, I don’t feel good about that. I want to know where the money’s going,” he said.
For that approach, Nelson turned to Tania Kozachanska, a Washington and Lee sophomore from Ukraine.
Kozachanska drew on her own experiences and connections in selecting the charities.
“Mark reached out to me with this new idea, fundraising money here in the community to send help to Ukraine, which obviously is incredibly meaningful work to me personally because I am from Ukraine, in Kiev,” she said.
“A lot of my friends are involved in nonprofit work back home, in various charities, so it was really encouraging for me to join the effort. I suggested three charities where I have personal contacts, and I’m sure that the work that is being done in those charities is respectable and is very influential to the community.”
Kozachanska and Nelson identified four charities: the family-type orphanage Zerniatko, the Brave Foundation, Unburned, and the Vinnytsa Humanitarian Mini-hub: to which they will direct their efforts. -The Zerniakto orphanage is based in Koroleva, in western Ukraine. Since it was founded 18 years ago, the orphanage has served nearly 30 children. It now accepts those who have been internally displaced, over 50 individuals so far.
“After the beginning of full-scale invasions, since it’s located in the western part of Ukraine where it’s safer, they’ve accepted more than 50 individuals who were internally displaced, and I was among them,” said Kozachanska.
“When the war started, I was in Kiev. I was in Kiev for the first two weeks, and then my family made a decision that I needed to evacuate. We didn’t have many options of where to go, but this house, and my friend in it, was brought up,” she recalled. “And this house, they hosted me, so I know what an incredible team of people it is, and that the work they’re doing is enormous to the community.”
Affiliated with the Greek Catholic Church, the orphanage also runs a charity kindergarten and sends aid to the front lines when it can. The money raised for this charity would mostly go toward necessities such as fuel and food.
“It’s a big house that has a lot of children in it. In winters in Ukraine we expect blackouts, like we had last year, due to a shortage of electricity because of the bombing of critical infrastructure. That’s why the house has already started buying food and gas for winter, which is very expensive because it’s a lot of people, and it’s a big house to sustain,” said Kozachanska.
“Apart from that, financial support would be appreciated for the medical needs of kids, especially for urgent health care, which is always something the house has to deal with, and also keeping up the conditions in the house for children to be in.” -Another charity selected by Kozachanska and Nelson is the Brave Foundation, a volunteer organization helping to restore infrastructure.
“Their main focuses are restoration of civilian infrastructure — private houses, kindergartens, schools, in Kiev region. So they come to the communities that are de-occupied, and they go house to house, asking ‘what are your needs, what do you need to do and how can we help,’” Kozachanska explained.
“The main strength of Brave is its volunteers, because they have a volunteer network of more than 2,000 back in Kiev region, and they can quickly gather people to address any needs that were expressed in the community.”
Kozachanska has personal experience with this charity as well, having spent her summer as one of those volunteers.
“This is the foundation where I interned this summer,” she said. “My main focus was restoration of a local school, and we were building a bomb shelter, so that kids can start going to school in September.”
Drawing both local and international volunteers, the Brave Foundation has restored nearly 90 private houses, two schools, two shelters, and well as clearing the remains of hundreds of destroyed buildings.
Donations to this charity would be put toward materials and tools for their building efforts, and to their volunteer network. -Unburned is a charity that operates through clinics across Ukraine, treating burn victims, both military and civilian.
“It’s actually a big problem, since when we think about explosions we usually think of the number of dead and hurt, but when people who get burns, they are affected for the rest of the life,” Kozachanska explained.
“Mainly, what the program looks like is that they partner with clinics around Ukraine that agree to provide medical assistance to the victims, free of charge.”
So far, this charity has treated over 100 patients through its network of 20 clinics. Donations go toward covering the cost of treatment, which averages between $10,000 and $15,000, and is not billed to patients.
Unburned hopes to continue expanding their reach, as Kozachanska explained.
“Their goal is to expand their ability to treat more patients. They are also trying to find funding for opening the first external rehabilitation centers, their own center, and they want to launch a psychological rehabilitation program since, in treating those victims, they realize how important it is to also work with the psychological side to make this treatment as comprehensive as possible.”
-The final charity selected for this effort is the Vinnytsia Humanitarian Mini-Hub.
“After the Russian invasion in 2022, in western Ukraine a big hub was opened, which was delivering humanitarian aid to the places closer to the front lines,” said Kozachanska.
Making these deliveries is dangerous, as well as expensive.
“Last week I met with one of the drivers,” Nelson recounted. “This is a totally volunteer effort. He’s made 56 trips to the front lines, delivering aid. They deliver aid to military units, as well as the civilian population, and it’s very dangerous. In fact, one of their vans was hit just recently, blew the tires out.”
Donations to this charity would be put toward fuel and vehicle repair. Currently, each delivery run costs about $500, and the organization hopes to increase the number of deliveries it makes each month.
“With the funds they have right now, they can make up to two deliveries of the goods per month. If the funding would be extended they could increase the capacity to four times per month,” said Kozachanska.
-After weeks of preparation, Nelson and Kozachanska are preparing to start their educational effort, presenting these charities and their missions to the community.
“This is primarily an educational approach; we want to encourage people to support small charities, because it is important,” said Nelson.
The Rockbridge Ukrainian Relief Effort has partnered with the Slavic Christian Church in Harrisonburg to accept and direct donations.
“We’ve spent the last month finding a church, a nonprofit, to partner with, and the church in Harrisonburg agreed to do this because they already have a program of sending aid,” Nelson explained.
Donations can be made through the Slavic Christian Church’s website, either directly to the Vinnytsia Humanitarian Mini-Hub or to the Rockbridge Ukrainian Relief Effort, which will divide the donation evenly among the four charities.
Donations can also be made by check, made out to the Slavic Christian Church and sent to RURE at Grace Episcopal Church in Lexington.
For more information, send an email to rockbridgeukranianrelief@ gmail.com.
The goal, Nelson said, is to raise $50,000 for humanitarian aid.
